According to foreign media news, the controlled nuclear fusion "National Ignition Facility (NIF)" of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory of the US Department of Energy used an energy input of 2.1 megajoules in an experiment at the end of November , with an energy output of 2.5 megajoules measured, the net energy gain reached 400 kilojoules, equivalent to more energy being exported than injected.
And the United States will hold a press conference on December 13 local time to announce the results of this experiment.
After seeing this news, I believe that not only the scientists are excited, but the netizens are also very excited.
For a long time, controllable nuclear fusion has been regarded as one of the most ideal energy sources for mankind , according to the definition given by the International Atomic Energy Agency, nuclear fusion is the principle of imitating the sun, making two lighter atomic nuclei Combining into a heavier atomic nucleus, a large amount of energy is released during the combination, so nuclear fusion is also called artificial sun.
If controllable nuclear fusion can really be applied in practice, it will completely get rid of various troubles such as war disputes.
In the past few hundred years, the reason why human beings have been constantly falling into wars is actually mostly caused by energy wars. In order to fight for the control of oil, many western countries did not hesitate to start wars and set fires everywhere, which caused turmoil in some parts of the world.
If controllable nuclear fusion technology can be mass-produced and used by human beings, this situation may be changed.
Controllable nuclear fusion uses hydrogen isotopes tritium and deuterium as raw materials. The content of deuterium on the earth is very rich. According to the prediction of scientists, the content of deuterium on the earth is about 40 trillion tons, which can be said to be inexhaustible. inexhaustible.
However, the content of tritium is very rare, and it is almost difficult to collect it in nature. At present, most tritium is synthesized through artificial laboratories. Generally, lithium carbonate or lithium fluoride alloy is used as the target material, and the nuclear reaction method is used to bombard it again. Tritium is obtained from it, but the price of tritium obtained in this way is very expensive. Even if humans master nuclear fusion technology in the future, how to produce a sufficient amount of tritium is a problem.
But for the second-generation nuclear fusion, the raw materials are not a big problem. The raw materials of the second-generation nuclear fusion mainly use deuterium and helium 3 as raw materials for the reaction.
Although the production of helium 3 on the earth is very small, the reserves of helium 3 on the moon are very rich. According to the prediction of scientists, it is conservatively estimated to reach at least 1 million tons.
Nuclear fusion using helium 3 as the raw material,one ton of helium 3 can generate enough electricity for all countries in the world to use for more than a year, then humans will not have to worry about disasters caused by the exhaustion of oil, coal and other energy sources.
What's more important is that besides providing a large amount of energy, nuclear fusion is very clean, non-polluting, and very safe, so it is a real ideal energy source.
It's just that although controllable nuclear fusion is an ideal energy source, it is very technically difficult.
Nuclear fusion needs to operate in a high-temperature device at 100 million degrees Celsius. In addition, ions need to be confined in a limited space for a long time and have a sufficiently high density.
These technologies are very difficult. Although humans have invested a lot of money, manpower and material resources in research in the past few decades, no substantial breakthroughs have been made, and many technologies are still in the experimental stage.
andJudging from the experimental data of various countries, since began to study nuclear fusion in 1950, humans have never obtained data that the output energy exceeds the consumed energy , that is to say, nuclear fusion basically stays in the energy consumption is greater than the energy output The state of the world cannot be used by human beings at all.
So this time the American laboratory can achieve "net energy gain" is of great significance , This means that human beings are one step closer to mastering controllable nuclear fusion technology, artificial sun will become possible in the future , if this technology matures Human beings can achieve a large amount of energy output with very little raw material.
But seeing this, many netizens may worry that if the United States really masters controllable nuclear fusion technology in the future, the global energy structure and even the economic structure will undergo great changes, and the United States will further strengthen their global position. At that time, we may be in a very passive position.
So many people are sweating for us. Nuclear fusion in the United States has achieved energy gain. So to what level has my country’s controllable nuclear fusion technology developed? Will we be stuck in nuclear fusion technology?
In response to your questions, let’s take a look at the history of nuclear fusion research in my country and its current state.
Nuclear fusion research in my country began in the 1950s. In 1965, the Southwest Institute of Physics of the Nuclear Industry was established in Sichuan, becoming the earliest fusion research institute in my country.
From the late 1970s to the early 1980s, my country began to conduct key research on tokamak devices.
In 1984, the Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology completed the China Circulator No. 1 (HL-1), which is the first large-scale fusion scientific engineering device independently designed and built in my country.
In the 1990s, my country formulated a "three-step" nuclear energy development strategy of thermal reactors, fast reactors, and fusion reactors.
In 2006, my country built the world's first fully superconducting non-circular cross-section tokamak experimental device (EAST) in Hefei. On September 28 of that year, the first round of physical discharge experiments in EAST was successful.
In 2009, China Circulator No. 2 M device project was officially approved.
It’s just that nuclear fusion is a very difficult technology, and our country’s research alone is not enough, So our country is also actively joining the international nuclear fusion research organization.
On November 21, 2006, China, EU , India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States formally signed the joint implementation agreement and related documents of the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) program.
ITER plan is currently one of the largest and most far-reaching international scientific research cooperation projects in the world. It is also the largest and most complex tokamak device under construction in the world. It is also the most technologically advanced "artificial sun". It is 30 meters high, 28 meters in diameter, and weighs 10,000 tons. The total cost will exceed 10 billion euros.
In this plan, China undertakes 9% of the procurement package manufacturing tasks of the ITER device, such as the first wall of the cladding is undertaken by my country, and my country has also become the country that undertakes the most tasks outside the EU.
In addition, in the process of undertaking the research and development of some of the tasks of ITER, my country has also achieved many breakthrough technologies, such as device physics and structural design, special material development, material connection and key component research and development., Precision manufacturing under extreme conditions, and assembly integration have made many breakthroughs.
For example, he has conquered key technologies such as high-nickel alloy hyperboloid thin-walled large-scale vacuum container molding and welding deformation control;
has mastered the manufacturing process of special-shaped copper alloy thick plates with international advanced level, and realized high-strength expansion The independent localization of bolt components;
has successfully developed the first domestic large-scale vertical shaft pulse generator set at the international advanced level. In addition,
also successfully developed 316LN austenitic nitrogen-controlling stainless steel, nickel-based 718 and A286 high-temperature alloys and other materials, which provide strong technical support for the construction of nuclear fusion reactors.
On the overall device, our country’s technology has also achieved many breakthroughs, on December 4, 2020, China Circulator No. 2 M device (HL-2M) was completed in Chengdu and achieved the first discharge, which marks China’s independent control The design, construction and operation technology of large-scale advanced tokamak device.
This device plasma current capacity is increased to more than 2.5 megaamperes, plasma plasma temperature can reach 150 million degrees, can achieve high density, high specific pressure, high bootstrap current operation.
By October 2022, the HL-2 plasma current will exceed 1 million amperes, creating a new record for the operation of my country's controllable nuclear fusion device, making my country's controllable nuclear fusion technology rank among the first in the world, and its technical level ranks in the forefront of the world.
At the same time, China’s EAST tokamak experimental device has been continuously achieving breakthroughs, in February 2016, EAST achieved the longest plasma discharge in the world with an electron temperature reaching 50 million degrees;
November 12, 2018 On May 28, 2021, EAST set a new world record, successfully achieving repeatable plasma operation at 120 million degrees Celsius for 101 seconds and 160 million degrees Celsius for 20 seconds, The original record of 20 seconds at 100 million degrees Celsius was extended by 5 times.
On December 30, 2021, EAST achieved 1056 seconds of long-pulse high-parameter plasma operation, which is currently the longest time for high-temperature plasma operation of a tokamak device in the world.
It can be seen from this series of data that my country is currently at the forefront of the world in terms of controllable nuclear fusion technology. Of course, there is no comparison between my country and the United States which is more advanced.
Because the research route of our country is different from that of the United States, The research route of our country is mainly the tokamak deviceOn this route, our country is already in the forefront of the world.
The United States is taking the laser confinement route . The way they use is to concentrate the laser rays, so that a confined space is filled with plasma. These plasmas collide with each other and finally achieve nuclear fusion. This time the United States achieved a technological breakthrough by using lasers Constrained technology is achieved.
Of course, my country is also doing research on laser confinement technology, such as the Shenguang series, but there is still some gap between the laser confinement route and the United States.
In short, in terms of controllable nuclear fusion research, China, the United States and Europe are currently leading the world, but the research routes are different, so we don’t have to worry about being pinched by others.
At present, controllable nuclear fusion is still a long way from practical application, and there are still many technologies that need breakthroughs. Therefore, in the research of controllable nuclear fusion, international cooperation should be followed rather than going it alone.
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